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17.53 Time to wrap this up, I think. It's been fun - hope you've enjoyed it. And come back next week, when we'll all be talking about Barack Obama's outfits. Will he turn up wearing an emerald-green dress and matching bonnet? I genuinely hope so.

Just time for the caption competition, as they used to say on Have I Got News For You. It's been tough but I'm going to give the DidcotMan the win - but a special mention to Foxie, whose effort "Much-admired 85-year-old royal grandmother climbs steep grassy hill", while not what I'd call laugh-out-loud funny, does underline the point that it's been a good week for the Queen. Have a fun weekend, everybody.

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17.36 One of the butchers who met the Queen and the Duke is talking through the experience - he explains how he was talking the Duke through the spiced-beef process. BBC interviewer asks him if he was nervous: "I was bricking it", he says.

The Cork accent is particularly lovely, isn't it? Very chatty and warm.

17.31 From our comments below - someone called Roberto71 says:

I'm a Dubliner and this has been a momentous trip. On Tuesday evening I rang my mother and she was in tears after seeing the Queen in the Garden of Remembrance. Everybody has been taken aback by how the visit and the Queen have touched the country.

It hasn't just been about her as head of state, it's been about the person as well. The Queen at 85 has shown great stamina and humour and her legendary work ethic as well. She didn't stop smiling it seems and she should be very proud for what she has achieved. Her Grandfather used to be ecstatically welcomed here and now it's come full circle again, this time as equal nations. And a word has to go to the Duke of Edinburgh who is some man for nearly 90 years of age!

They are both a credit to Britain and I and the overwhelming majority of people here have been absolutely delighted with how this trip went. It has surpassed all expectations.

17.16 A palace spokesman has said that the trip has surpassed all expectations:

It's been the most amazing four days. It's had a significance above and beyond a normal state visit. It's one of the most significant visits of her reign, without a doubt.

16.56 So give me 10 minutes, I'll pull down these pictures of Liz and throw a few stars-and-stripes things around the place, and we'll get started on the Barack Obama in Ireland live blog, eh? God, Ireland's going to have had it up to the eyeballs with heads of state by this time next week.

Here's what it'll look like:

What I've done here is, I've spent far too long crudely Photoshopping Obama's face on to the Queen for a cheap gag, and frankly the result is creeping me out a little. (Photo: GETTY)

I'm not even sure this picture is in the gallery, but how often will I be able to put a picture of the Queen standing next to a severed pig's head wearing sunglasses on a national newspaper's website? Not often, that's how often. (Photo: GETTY)

16.21 I know that I've been occasionally snarky about this trip - as one or two of you have pointed out in the comments - but, all joking aside, it has felt like a hugely significant development. As the BBC's Peter Hunt says, only slightly hyperbolically:

@BBCPeterHunt Queen has gone, having left her mark on a once hostile land. Anglo-Irish relations have been rejuvenated. The grip of the past loosened.

16.20 The plane is now taking off. Wheels are up - 4.20pm, if you're keeping track. I think they have taken that flag down, you'll be relieved to know.

16.18 More on Sinn-Fein-Handshake-Gate. A spokesman for the South Tipperary Sinn Fein party, Muiris O Suilleabhain, has said that the Mayor of Cashel's unscheduled handshake "surprised" party members:

Party members in Tipperary were surprised by Michael Browne's action, especially as he recently signed a statement against the English queen's visit to the Rock of Cashel. Sinn Fein's position on the visit of the English queen to Ireland is that it is premature and we are opposed to it and that its elected members should not attend any of the events related to it.

16.16 The Queen's plane is forced to wait its turn on the runway while a RyanAir plane lands. Swift reminder that it's still a republic, there.

16.14 Does the Queen's plane have a name? Air Force One sort of thing? If not, I'm going to suggest AeroCorgi.

16.12 The plane is taxiing to the runway. Still got a big flag out the window. Can't be very aerodynamic.

16.09 From earlier, here's video of her arrival in Cork to a remarkable cheering reception:

16.08 The planes' engines are spinning up.

16.05 The red carpet has been rolled up and the aircraft stands ready to fly on the tarmac. I say ready to fly: there's still a damn great flag sticking out of the window, like a white van driver during the World Cup. Is that safe?

16.00 The Queen and the Duke are boarding their plane, after shaking hands with the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and other dignitaries. It's been, I have to say, a remarkable trip in many ways.

The Queen shakes hands with the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, before boarding her plane.

15.58 The BBC is trotting out the "It's only an hour's flight, but it's taken 100 years to get here" line again. Hoping that we've forgotten they used it three days ago, presumably.

15.57 Here's the motorcade now. The Queen is getting out of her Range Rover, followed by the Duke.

15.54 The Queen will soon be arriving at Cork Airport. There's a hefty honour guard, and a long red carpet leading to an airliner.

15.49 The BBC's Peter Hunt has taken the full brunt of the squealing Queen-fans on the impromptu walkabout earlier:

15.43 More Rock of Cashel fact fun, this time from Dr Eugene Keane, who showed the Queen around and says that this is the first time a monarch has been at the Rock in 840 years:

It's a new history for Cashel and we're hoping it will deliver great benefits afterwards in terms of tourism. But historically the last time a monarch was here was in 1171 - Henry II. So it's quite a gap in the meantime but to be here and experience it was just wonderful.

The Queen meets local people during a tour of the Rock of Cashel

15.36 Interesting fact: the Mayor of Cashel, one Michael Browne, made a small piece of history earlier today by apparently becoming the first member of Sinn Fein to shake the Queen's hand. He said:

I just shook hands with her. I just said to her 'welcome to Cashel, Your Majesty, and I hope you enjoy your stay'. No more, no less.

15.24Kim Bielenberg of the Irish Independent and Peter Tobin of the Cork Independent have got a nice little anecdote from the English Market trip:

The Duke of Edinburgh asks one of the fishmongers: "What's in the fish cakes?" Fishmonger says: "Fish, what do you think?"

@NightLord2009The charm offensive of the Queen's visit has been a total success. Most Irish people are now kiss-a*s royalists ready to fight for Betty.

15.07 That was really nice. My cockles are officially warmed. Don't worry, I'll get my smart-alec face back on in a second.

14.58 Everyone in the crowd has been security-checked, apparently, but it's still a bit surprising to see. This little meet-and-greet walkabout is entirely unscheduled, according to both the BBC and The Daily Express's royal reporter Richard Palmer:

@RoyalReporterThe Queen is doing an impromptu walkabout, something we were told couldn't happen because off security fears. A shame for Dubliners that they didn't get the chance to greet the Queen like this.

14.54 They've escaped the English Market now and are doing what President Bartlet would call "walking the ropeline", passing down along the barriers talking to the crowds. Cork schoolchildren have all been given the day off, which might go some way to explaining the excitability.

14.50 "Who wants to talk to me about the Duke of Edinburgh?" the BBC's reporter asks the gathered Corkonian adolescents. The sudden explosion of high-pitched squealing scares him so much that he runs away and starts talking to their teachers.

14.47 Shrieking teenage girls drown out all other sound on the BBC's coverage. It's like Beatlemania.

14.43William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, can be seen in the background on the telly, bobbing around uncertainly. Another round of applause as the Queen is presented with a brass-plaqued thing that looks a bit like a coffin but probably isn't. I'll find out what it is in a moment. It might be a hamper - she is, apparently, to be given a hamper from the market - but it looked a bit hefty and, well, coffiny to be a hamper.

14.36 She's meeting a few of the traders in the English Market now, staring rather intently at the wares in a butcher's and a fishmonger's.

The Queen and the Mayor of Cork in the city's English Market.

14.33 After a quick glimpse of the Duke waving out of the back seat of their range rover, the royal couple gets out of the car outside the English Market and meets the Mayor of Cork. Huge cheers - very different to Dublin, where the crowds were kept so far back. It's all very jolly.

14.31 The Queen's motorcade or cavalcade or escapade or whatever we're supposed to call it is just turning up in Cork now - the first motorcycle outriders are scooting down the high street. Which makes this a very good time for the next instalment in our ongoing Twitter lesson on Cork republican history, via Chris Manfield:

A Cork street lined with people and Union flags ahead of the Queen's visit. PETER HUNT / YFROG

13.35 Gordon Rayner, via Twitter:

Good crowd in Cork ready for Queen's arrival. Protesters limited to about 20 people with Irish tricolours and one Che Guevara flag.

Che Guevara? Good Lord. I mean protest by all means, but don't resort to cliché.

13.28 Julie O'Connor again:

@Julie_UTV Cork is rolling out the red carpet for the Queen. Have seen quite a few Union Jacks flapping in the wind. The rebel county is awash with red White and blue. Looks like we will see our first crowds on the streets during this visit.

13.26 The scaffolding where it's being renovated is a bit of a shame, but the Rock of Cashel really is magnificent - isn't this a beautiful shot?

The Queen arrives by helicopter at Cashel, County Tipperary, to visit the Rock of Cashel monument. (AFP/GETTY)

13.21 I may have been sniffy about the entertainment on offer for Her Majesty last night, what with Westlife and Mary Byrne and so on, but if UTV's Julie O'Connor is to be believed, she's had a very lucky escape:

@Julie_UTVJedward playing for Obama on Monday. That is all I have to say...

13.19 The BBC's royal sycophant - sorry, correspondent, it says here - Nicholas Witchell says that this trip will rank with the "half-dozen most significant" state visits of her reign and that Ireland will remember it fondly.

13.04 Momentary shock, after 12.45's teasing snippet from AFP about the Queen's "gastronomic highlights", when I saw a headline on Reuters saying "British royalty dined on human flesh". Turns out it's talking about 18th century royalty, though, so nothing to see here.

13.01 More from Padraid Reidy on Corkonians:

@mePadraigReidy We have a reputation for a certain, er, self-confidence (i.e. we think we're better than the rest of the country). "Heard about the Corkman with the inferiority complex? He thought he was the same as everyone else"

I feel like I'm learning something.

12.49 Professional Corkolista Padraig Reidy has got in touch again, with more information about the "Rebel County":

@mePadraigReidy The whole "rebel county" thing is complicated. Several theories as to origin of nickname. But it is [a traditionally republican region]: city centre burned down by British forces during War of Independence.

12.45 AFP tantalisingly reports that the Queen tasted "gastronomic highlights" during her trip to the Rock of Cashel, but gives no further details. We should be told!

12.38 A picture. I feel like it should be in a caption competition. In fact, if you've got any ideas, add them in the comments.

12.30 One thing I did learn from that BBC interview a few moments ago - because the interviewer said it, not because he let any of the interviewees get a word in edgewise - was that Michael Collins was born in Cork, and the county is really the spiritual home of Irish republicanism (and Roy Keane. I don't know if that's relevant). Mark McFadden, the UTV reporter, agrees:

@MarkMcFadden Ironic that the Queen's trip should end in the Rebel County. Cork will try to outdo Dublin's welcome.

12.23 The BBC is interviewing a group of people from Cork - what is a person from Cork called? Corkian? Corkist? Corkovite? - and one lady says that she is very much looking forward to the Queen's arrival later, because she is a wonderful person, and because she is going to be good for business and trade between the countries. Yes, I'm afraid that things have slowed down to the point that I'm reporting on BBC vox pops now. Got to squeeze every drop out of the available news.

It's a bit excruciating, actually, because the interviewer keeps asking people questions, and then as they start answering immediately talks over them. They all look completely baffled.

12.13 What with Elliot Morley andsuper-injunctions, the poor Queen is really struggling for air-time at the moment. Pff. Seriously, these TV news editors need to start thinking about their priorities.

No sooner has the Queen left Dublin than they're preparing for the visit of President Obama on Monday.

The Irish Independent has produced a 32-page supplement, no less, looking forward to the visit. The President will, of course, fly in Marine One to Moneygall, the one-horse town where his great, great, great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, lived. There's no-one so Irish as Barack O'Bama, as the souvenir badges say.

11.36 The children of Cashel Community School's choir have sung a Gaelic blessing, May The Road Rise To Meet You, to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Their music teacher, John Murray, said:

The students are absolutely thrilled to perform for the Queen. They never expected to get this honour. Everybody in Cashel and the school are honoured to have the Queen here. The piece we chose is a religious one, which is fitting for the setting we're in.

"May the road rise to meet you"? Isn't that just a roundabout way of saying "May you fall flat on your face"? Probably not.

Don't helicopters normally have wheels or something? That one looks weird. Like it's done a bellyflop. Anyway, it's the Queen and the Duke, landing in County Tipperary. (Photo: PA)

11.27Gordon Rayner returns:

We now have the Queen's official response to the reception the Irish people have given her: One is chuffed.

Harry Crosbie, who staged last night's concert at the Dublin Convention Centre, said: "She's loving Ireland, and is really enjoying herself. I told her she had captured the hearts of the nation and she was chuffed."

11.18 To plinky-plonky harp music, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are being shown around the ancient tourist attractions of the Rock of Cashel in the south-west of Ireland. She's wearing bright green, as she did on the first day to such a positive response, and made the journey from the helicopter in a green Bentley. It's pretty blustery out there but the sun is bright.

According to PA, the royal couple's helicopter landed in a field by Hore Abbey, a 13th-century former Benedictine monastery, and they travelled by motorcade to nearby St Patrick's Rock. She was met by Brendan Howlin, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and Dr Eugene Keane, of the Historical Properties Division at the Office of Public Works. They were twice applauded by onlookers, and were shown a replica of the 12th century St Patrick's Cross before visiting the cathedral.

She came, she saw, she conquered the sceptics. The Queen won over the Dublin doubters who thought the four-day trip to Ireland would simply be an extravagant, expensive tour by an archaic, arrogant monarch.

11.02 Sky and the BBC have turned away from the Queen's visit and are both covering the injunction stuff, which I'm probably not allowed to talk about, so I'll have to hand over to the BBC's Peter Hunt to say what's going on in Ireland:

@BBCPeterHunt Queen in vivid green emerges from dark green Bentley for her morning as a Tipperary tourist.

10.56 This got a chuckle, via Gordon Rayner:

The Queen is an X Factor fan, according to Mary Byrne, who didn't win the talent show. "She came up to me and said 'you are the lady off the X Factor'," Byrne said after last night's concert.

"I asked her, did she watch it? The Queen said she watched it the next day so she must have recorded it," she added.

Only if the Queen pressed the wrong button on the Buckingham Palace video recorder, I suspect.

10.52 The Queen has now landed in a field in County Tipperary. She gets out of the helicopter and looks rather startled when there isn't a red carpet, just a sort of tarpaulin leading to a stone-walled country road. There's a few minutes of confusion while she stands there - the Sky newsreader saying "Is there some sort of buggy? It's quite a walk" - and eventually a limo thing turns up to whisk her down the road to the Rock of Cashel.

10.44 I have to say, I was being pretty rude about this concert yesterday (I mean, Westlife and Riverdance?), but it does sound like it was an absolute triumph, so I'll just have to eat my words. Lisa O'Carroll emails again:

Grown-up journalists are saying they used to be republican, but when they see her they smile. "She has won the nation over", 'I've spent more time with the Queen than my family this week". Incredible stuff. And didn't the Queen herself seem brimming with pride last night at the convention centre. Remarkable.

I hope some good will come from this visit and I particularly was taken by Queen Elizabeth's sincere expression of sympathy to all those who had suffered in the course of the conflict.

If there is to be more benefit out of this, it will be if it moves beyond these important gestures and remarks. It's another step in the journey. It was the conditions created by the peace process which allowed this to happen.

It's a page in a book - and we need to write the next page and the next page and keep moving the process on.

Sure, he's mixing his metaphors a bit there - it's a journey AND a book? - but it's in the right spirit so I'll let that go.

09.53 The Queen had a great time yesterday, by all accounts, touring the National Stud in Kildare. Like a lot of her family, she's a real horse person - not like those of us who find horses faintly petrifying, the enormous great beasts, with their big teeth and rolling eyes and air of barely restrained insanity. Anyway. It really does sound like she was enjoying herself - here's Gordon Rayner again, who has written more of this than I have and who really deserves a joint byline, on a day for the Queen to relax:

Beaming with delight, she was clearly thrilled to meet former jockeys who rode the great steeplechaser Arkle in the 1960s. As she was introduced to Paddy Woods, 80, she said: “It must have been an experience riding Arkle.”

Jim Draper, the son of Arkle’s trainer, said: “This is TP Burns, who I think rode some winners for you in those years.”

“No, for my Mama,” the Queen said with a smile before reminiscing with Mr Burns, 87. Many of them wished her good luck for next month’s Derby, when one of her horses, Carlton House, is expected to start as favourite.

09.45 More from Gordon, who's being very prolific this morning, on why the trip has been such a success:

I've yet to come across anyone in Ireland who has a bad word to say about the Queen's visit, and my colleagues in the Irish media have devoted up to 20 pages per day to the trip, giving it an unequivocal thumbs-up. Simply getting the Queen here and home again without incident would have been judged a success - I can't imagine the respective governments ever dared hope the trip would have gone as well as it has. Surely a second visit after next year's Diamond Jubilee must already be in their thoughts.

Part of the reason for the success of the visit has been the first-rate job done by the security services in Ireland. The Irish Independent reports today that the Real IRA had planned to leave a stolen car on the Queen's route to the Irish National Stud yesterday, and claim it contained a bomb, to disrupt the visit. But intelligence gathered by the Garda's Special Branch foiled the plot, intercepting the stolen car and arresting the driver, a well-known IRA sympathiser.

The silent prayer was that there would be no bowing or scraping, but also no disrespect, and most especially no violence. When it was all over we could breathe a collective sigh of relief and move on.

Instead, mere relief has been far surpassed. From the moment the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived, and she appeared in green, the tension broke. We have been charmed and moved, surprised and impressed. On the Irish side, it helps that our head of state is Mary McAleese, a Catholic nationalist from Belfast whose family were burned out of their home by loyalists. Only someone with these credentials could warmly welcome a Queen of the United Kingdom free from suspicion of royalist sympathies.

The Queen speaks during the state dinner at Dublin Castle.

09.39 On each of the other mornings of this tour I've given a quick run-down of the day's itinerary, but today Gordon has done my work for me:

The Queen is going to the Rock of Cashel near Tipperary, one of the oldest religious sites in the country and a place where St Patrick is said to have spent time. She's then going on to Cork, where she's going to the English Market, said to be the oldest covered market in Europe, and the Tyndall National Institute, where she will meet the Benhaffaf twins, who were conjoined at birth before being separated by an Irish surgeon, Edward Kiely, at Great Ormond Street.

Don't know what's going to be the best of it at the moment, but it'll all be over by about 3pm. I'll keep you updated.

09.37 Our video desk have the footage from last night's shindig, if that's the word:

09.35 At the end of the night, as Gordon says, the gathered crowds gave Her Majesty a standing ovation, which is something you'd have got long odds on a few years ago. Andy Bloxham has more:

It was the warmest reaction yet and a significant moment in what has been the first visit by a British monarch to Ireland for a century.

Gay Byrne, who compered the evening, told the 2,000–strong audience: "You were present at a historic occasion. Remember it."

09.32 I wrapped it up last night at around six, and it sounds like I chose the wrong time to do it; the Queen attended a concert last night at the Dublin Convention Centre, and the press were allowed in. Gordon Rayner was there:

What a week it's been. The Queen has been a massive hit with the Irish public, as they showed last night at the end of the concert at the Dublin Convention Centre. Until then, I had assumed that the highlight of the trip from the Queen's point of view would have been the visits to Ireland's world-famous racing studs, but from the look in her eye as she faced the cheering audience after a five-minute ovation, I've no doubt the concert won hands down.